President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday stated that the successful discovery of Kolmani Oil and Gas Field by the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and partners in Bauchi and Gombe states has broken the jinx of oil discovery in upper Benue Trough apart from the Niger Delta.
Buhari stated during the flag-off ceremony of the Kolmani Integrated Development Project KIPRO of Oil Prospecting Licenses OPLS 809 and 810 at the Kolmani Field Site, which was held at Barambu community in Alkaleri local government area of the state, said that efforts to find commercial oil and gas in the established Niger-Delta River Basin were attempted for many years without the desired result.
Recall that in 2016, the Nigeria National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited launched a search for oil in some Northern states. The search led to the discovery of the oil in commercial quantities in Bauchi, Gombe, Borno, and Niger states.
He said that the NNPC has re-strategized and expanded its oil and gas exploration footprints to the front-yard basins of Anambra, Dahomey, Sokoto, Benue through, and Chad River Basins, adding that similar activities across other River basins are currently ongoing.
“We are pleased with the discovery of over a billion crude oil reserves and 500 Billion Cubic litres of liquid gas within the Kolmani fields as well as the huge potential for more deposits as we intensify exploration efforts.
“It is good to note that the discovery has now attracted Investments for an end-to-end integrity development and Money taxation of the hydrocarbon resources.
“The project promises many benefits for the nation, this include but not limited to energy security, financial security, food security as well as an overall social economic development, considering the location and the huge capital requirements, the economics of the project is a challenging proposition.
“Consequently, I implore NNPC to utilize and leverage their vast asset and portfolio across all corridors of this operatives to advertise the project to attract the needed Investments. I have directed NNPC to continue along these lines.”
In his speech, the Group Managing Director NNPC Mele Kyari thanked the President for his doggedness amidst economic turmoil in ensuring the success of the flagging up of the oil rig and said the region would open up the socio-economic development of the country.
*’Projects already attracted over $3bn investment in fossil energy’
Meanwhile, Buhari yesterday declared that his administration attracted over $3bn investment in the oil and gas sector at a time of near-zero appetite for investment in fossil energy.
Buhari said, “Considering the landlocked location and the huge capital requirement, the economics of the project is a challenging proposition. Consequently, from the outset, I instructed NNPC Limited to utilise and leverage its vast asset portfolio across all corridors of its operations to de-risk the project to attract the much-needed investment.
“It is therefore to the credit of this administration that at a time when there is near zero appetites for investment in fossil energy, coupled with the location challenges, we can attract investment of over $3bn to this project.”
In his remarks, Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, who recalled his relationship with the project, expressed his delight to be associated with the project as Minister having worked with a former Minister of Petroleum Resources when NNDC won the oil prospect lease being flagged off Tuesday.
Also speaking at the event, the Group CEO NNPCL, Mele Kolo Kyari, noted that the search for oil and gas in the frontier basins of Chad, Sokoto, Anambra Platform, Calabar Embarkment, Benue Trough, Dahomey, Bida, and the Ultra-Deepwater Niger Delta had spanned decades without significant outcomes.
“However, the singular determination of Mr President to ensure optimum exploration and exploitation of our natural resources and Your Excellency’s consequential directives for NNPC Limited to strategize and utilize available human, technological, and other material resources to prosecute exploration activities in all Frontier Basins resulted in the discovery of commercial oil and gas deposits in the Kolmani Prospect in April 2019,” Kyari added.
